St John the Evangelist Church is a heritage-listed Presbyterian church located at Main Street, Wallerawang, City of Lithgow, New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by Edmund Blacket and Blacket and Sons, and built from 1880 to 1881 by George Donald. It is also known as the Church of St. John the Evangelist. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 10 September 2004.
Established as a dual-denomination Unionist Anglican and Presbyterian church, the church was closed in 2001 in order to repair the tower. When it reopened in 2006, the Anglican Church ceased to conduct services in the building.
Prior to establishment of the church, the area was former Aboriginal land, a squatting run, and farm village.
History
Wallerawang
The place named Wallerawang derives from the language of the Wiradjuri Aboriginal people who occupied the area before white settlement. It is said to mean "place near wood and water" or "plenty of water".
The first colonial settler in the Lithgow-Wallerawang district was James Walker. He was born in Perth, Scotland, in 1785, the son of wealthy merchant. He became an artillery officer in the Royal Marines and retired in 1822. In May 1823, he set sail on the Brutus for NSW.
A road was surveyed from Hartley to Mudgee in 1823, eleven years after the first successful white crossing of the Blue Mountains.
On reaching Sydney in September, Governor Brisbane granted Walker acres at Wallerowang, which stretched to the Wolgan Valley to the north. This land had been by-passed on the way to Bathurst by the early settlers. In 1837 he applied for more land between the Wolgan Valley and Bathurst. Walker started 1800 cross-bred sheep, 64 merinos, 312 head of cattle and 15 horses. By the end of 1840, he held an immense tract of country under licence and was running 1487 cattle and 20,534 sheep. In 1854 he was the holder of 16 stations with an area of .
Thomas returned to Scotland and married his wife, Robina Ramsay Walker, his cousin, in 1832. They had four children; Allison, Archibald and Georgina (all born at Wallerawang) and Wilhelmina (born in London). James had sympathy with the Church of England as well as a strong acceptance of Presbyterian doctrine. He was a deeply religious man and built a house, Wallerawang Station and a church. Clergy from both denominations were frequently welcomed at Wallerawang, including the Rev. Colin Stewart, pioneer Presbyterian minister who arrived in the area in 1830.
James Walker died on 24 November 1856, aged 71 and was buried in the family cemetery on the estate. He is remembered as having good dealings with his convict workers and also a remarkable relationship with the local Wywandy Aboriginal people. In 1866 his widow, who still held licences for 15 stations, died in 1867.
St John The Evangelist Church
Their daughter Georgina Walker-Barton married Edwin Barton, who was the surveyor / engineer of the Zig Zag railway. He died in 1876. Mrs Barton commissioned renowned Gothic Revival church architect and family friend, Edmund Blacket, in 1880 to design St John The Evangelist Church on the estate as a place of worship for the Church of England and the Presbyterians of Wallerawang. The church was a commemoration to her parents and family, who had all died before her. It was to be used as the Wallerawang Estate Chapel and a "union" or public dual-denomination church: by both the Presbyterian and Anglican denominations in memory of James Walker, his wife Robina and Georgina's late husband Edwin Barton. She mainly financed the construction and established a small Gothic Revival style brick school nearby, which is still standing. The reflection of religious philanthropy is an important theme in Lithgow with five other churches in the area being privately funded.
The stone was from a quarry on Tunnel Hill, and the fine stone for the tracery and door frames came from Sydney. The carving on the Western Australian karri pews was designed to represent the Scottish heritage of the Walker / Barton family.